Russian antitrust finds Apple guilty of setting prices for iPhone 6

MOSCOW, Mar 14 (PRIME) -- A commission of Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service has found a local unit of Apple, Apple Rus, guilty of setting prices for bestsellers iPhone 5 and 6 smartphones in the country, the authority’s Deputy Director Andrei Tsarikovsky said on Tuesday.

“The service’s commission studied materials of the case and concluded the following: Apple Rus is guilty of violating the competition law by coordinating economic activities of resellers of Apple’s iPhone smartphones, which resulted in setting and maintaining prices of the iPhone 5s, iPhone5c, iPhone6, iPhone6 Plus, iPhone6s and iPhone6s Plus,” Tsarikovsky said.

The service closed the case regarding Apple Holding B.V., Apple Sales Ireland, Apple Operations International and Apple Inc. amid a lack of breaches.

The watchdog will not issue a warrant on mending the violation for Apple Rus since it has stopped coordinating economic activities of resellers.

“The decision will be published fully within 10 days and can be contested during three months at an arbitration court,” Tsarikovsky said.

The service did not find proof of price coordination for the iPhone 7 on the local market and will not open a case, the official said.

“The situation with the model 7 was caught in focus when the case was being considered, and it would have been weird if companies had kept on coordinating prices during this period,” he said.

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